A Review of CSA from a First Timer!!

On Friday May 10, 2013 my wife and I embarked on our first trip to Jamaica. After researching many places, Couples Swept Away was a resort that kept being recommended, and after a week in paradise I can see why it was!
This was the 4th AI resort we have been to (1 Mexico & 2 DR) but we are so glad to have picked Jamaica for our trip of 2013. What a beautiful country and the people are so friendly.
Now to my review of CSA!! We travelled on WestJet from St. Johnís, NL to Toronto, ON and straight to Montego Bay. Going through customs was a breeze and as soon as you get through, you head right to the Couples Lounge!! Here they take your luggage and tag it to the resort you are going. This is when my Vacation actually begins for me!!! Go in the lounge and grab a few cold Red Stripes and soon your shuttle bus will be ready to hit the road for the 1.5 hour ride!
When we arrived at CSA, we were greeted with a cool towel and glass of bubbly. Check in was quick and easy, we were booked into a Garden Veranda Suite and we were given floor options, we decided on the ground floor, thanks to advice from previous CSA travellers. No stairs to climb, breakfast room service just leaves the food on your patio table and just knock on your door, so no need to get up and let them in your room. Also you can get a key for the patio door so you can have access to your room from both sides of the building, just remember that they will add $20 dollars to your account for this key in case you lose it.
Our room was in building 7, room 2110. It is considered the older GVS rooms, but these older buildings have all new renovated bathrooms that are excellent. I read lots about how the rooms are dated, but we thought our room was great. What is there to complain about when everything in your room works and your maid does an excellent job keeping your room clean! Now a word of advice, when we checked in at 4pm our room was not ready yet and when we did check into our room our bar was not stocked, even though I preregistered on the Couples site weeks before our trip. This might have bothered some people, but we are on vacation and the next day our room was fully stocked!
Now the food at this resort was excellent and there was no shortage of finding something to eat even if youíre a picky eater. We always started with coffee and croissants room service on our patio, and then later on we went for our full breakfast, either at the buffet at the Palms, or at Patois where we had the famous banana stuffed French toast and breakfast pizza!! So good! For lunch we usually went to Seagrapes . Here you have to try the sweet potato chips, fish tacos, Jamaican sushi and the veggie burger. Service here is a little slow, but youíre on vacation so the wait is worth it! Now for supper we went to every restaurant and enjoyed all. There are 2 (Lemongrass & Feathers) that you do have to make reservations. We both really enjoyed the food and atmosphere at these restaurants, the service is fantastic. At Feathers Diana and Stacey Ann were our waitresses and the way they served us was above and beyond what is normal for a dining experience, they both were awesome!!
Now I will talk about the beach and what a beach it is!! If you`re pool people, you may want to go elsewhere on your vacation. As soon as you walk onto Seven Mile Beach you will think you have died and gone to heaven. White sand and crystal clear turquoise water as far as you can see. Lots of chairs available, and to be able to use the cushions as a float is genius!! Like all resorts we have been to, the chair game is played here as well, but if you want shade, you will find it no problem. Security on the beach is great, there are lots of locals selling shells and other Jamaican gifts, but they are only allowed a certain distance on the beach and if they get too close the security will let them know. There are 2 beach bars and we usually get up to get our drinks, but sometimes we did use the green flag service. You get thirsty you stick the flag in the sand and soon someone will be over to take your drink order!! Orville was one of the beach waiters we got to know, what a nice guy and a great waiter!
Our first trip to Jamaica and to Couples Swept Away was a dream come true. 7 days of sunny beautiful weather at a resort where all the employees are so friendly and all seem to love their jobs. Jamaica is all about love, respect and having no worries and if you go on vacation with that attitude how can you not have the vacation of your dreams!!
My wife and I will definitely be returning to CSA and we plan on telling all our friends that if you want to travel to one of the most romantic places on this earth look no further than Jamaica and stay at CSA!!
If anyone has any questions, please donít hesitate to message me!

Thanks Sara!! Actually we travelled with 2 other couples and met another while we were there, all first timers and I can say that all groups loved CSA and we are all planning on going back at some point.

Ken, I'm so glad everyone had a great time! I've been trying to talk my inlaws from up in Dauphin MB to go. They got to Ochie last year but it wasn't couples, their loss for sure. I know if they would just try it .....

Bzlynchmob, you need to sign for the "Romance Rewards" progrsm at the bottom of this page. Then click " pre checkin" about a week before your trip to pick what you want in your minibar. In my experience, (just got back from #5), our minibar was not stocked fully, although it fid have beer, water and some juices. It was stocked a couple hours later. Then you start earning rewsrds on your next visits, have fun !

What was the weather like while you were there? I will be honeymooning there next week and the forecast calls for a chance of rain/thunderstorms every day. I hope not!

We were there from Apr 28 - May 12 (one week at CSA and one at CSS). Don't worry about thunderstorm forecasts, we had those too, but only got had rain for a few minutes most afternoons. We did have one afternoon with a pretty heavy thunderstorm, but it seemed like everyone gathered at one of the open-air restaurants to watch the storm roll through. It was incredible!

cfthunder, I love your review! CSA really captured our hearts too. We're already dreaming of the next time we will be going. We stayed in room 1106, and while it may be too close to the road for some, we totally loved it and are thinking of requesting the same room for our return trip. The patios are amazing, and I loved the privacy and evening peepers that came with our garden room.

NATinBC, couldn't agree with you more! Our GVS room was on the ground floor and it was so convienant and social!! We would relax early in the morning drinking our coffee on our patio, talking to all the locals on their way to work. It was so nice for everyone to say good morning as they started their day! We would have the resort cats come to visit us every day and we would sneak food out of the buffet and give them a treat!!